High Performance Thread Rolling Screws were first introduced into the market in the 1960's to provide a means for tapping a mating nut thread, in steel and light alloy anchors, where the thread formed in the anchor, would equate to that produced by the more conventional thread tapping or thread forming technologies associated with standard machine screw/nut threads. The screw, when inserted into the assembly, would remain as an integral part of the finished assembly. This system being similar, in many ways, to the self-tapping screws that were introduced in the 1930's for assembling sheet metal structures. The difference between the two systems being that the ‘High Performance Thread Rolling Screws’ would produce mating nut threads that were equivalent to specified ‘machine screw standards’ and could be used in anchors that had thicknesses that were in excess of 2 times the nominal screw diameter. This feature had not usually been available with the 1930's, self-tapping screws.
Many enhancements have been made to the original design concept for ‘high performance thread rolling screws’ in that industry, having recognized the in-place-cost-saving advantages, of such products, were requesting benefits over and above those envisaged when the 1960's version was introduced.
Many patents have been issued, worldwide, that highlight the inventive nature of the on-going approaches that have been taken to meet industry demands for this type of product. U.S. issued patents, that met the need for enhancement include, inter alia, U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,808, entitled THREADED FASTENER SYSTEM, issued on Mar. 3, 1998, by Alan Pritchard, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.